Cold War
by EVWTForever
Summary: The title basically explains what it is. My brother wrote it, so I won't take credit for it! Please read!


"Cold War"

The wind howled, wailing like some woman in torture. Through the early morning grey the sun shone weakly from the clouds, its pale white light signaling the coming of another day. Down the cliff face, deep in the snow covered pine. One could see lights from an army camp coming slowly to life; the gas fires burning into existence, the yawns of the night watch looking forward to the much needed rest. From the cliffs above two figures watched, their eyes seeing the colors of the tents, a union jack, dark blue. The figures stared for a while, their inhuman eyes watching the scene silently.

Siegfried turned, and looked directly at the figure standing on the other side of the cliff, red eyes burning into him. Siegfried started upon seeing the eyes staring back at him. Then the dark figure turned and walked away. Siegfried stood still, his eyes closed against a memory he had long thought dead.

The blizzard was blinding. Icy sheets of snow stun faces and the cold seemed to pass through the layers of clothing and tear away at the spirits of the men. All over the globe temperature drops were common now during the war. The top nations of the world tried to gain dominion over the others. The spark for the war came in 2030, when North Korea launched a nuclear assault on Japan, killing millions. Then North Korea was nuclear rubble, and the treaties between the super powers began to break and a full blown war started.

Now, after the nuclear bombs had been dropped, the now fledgling armies strive to find a ship that had crashed in the ruins of Germany, covered in snow, housing a supposed a new weapon that would revolutionize combat and give the group who found it dominion over the others….

Siegfried walked towards the camp, head bent against the onslaught of the blizzards that were all too common in this region now. The guards at their stations didn't even notice him sneak past them and into the camp itself. Siegfried figure wandered through the tents being buffeted by the howling wind, before stopping at the captain's tent. He wandered inside as the captain came around the corner.

Captain Gerick stumbled into his tent and lit a nearby candle, bathing the tent in a warm glow. He noticed him sitting on his bed.

"And who are you?" Captain Gerick yelled, his large shoulders heaving with every word.

"Bad weather out there." Siegfried said calmly, brushing snow from his clothes. His face was hidden by a balaclava mask, only his eyes were showing.

"You'd better explain yourself before I have to….make you." he said with an audible cracking of knuckles.

"Is that any way to talk to a superior?" Siegfried said, removing the balaclava mask. He was surprisingly young, not even twenty. He had dark hair and a handsome face. The most startling thing was his eyes, the irises blood red. A scar stretched across his eyes. He wore thick clothes and a trench coat. He sat back, staring at him, and then reached in his pocket.

Gerick launched himself at his apparent assailant, but his fist only hit the chair, the man having nimbly dodged out of the way. He turned to face him, then saw him holding a pack of cigarettes, and staring at him like he was insane. He took one out and put it in his mouth, reaching for his lighter.

"Mind if I smoke?" he said, smirking at him.

"If you're my superior, what rank are you?" Gerick said, quickly becoming annoyed by this punk.

He looked up at him saying "I'm one of the five generals of the people's army."

Gerick paled, realizing who this was. The five generals of The People's Army were reputed to best tacticians and fighters in the entire army, reputed to have superhuman abilities. "Si…..Sir I apologize! I had no idea one of the five would be visiting here!"

Just then Ariana burst into the tent, brushing her orange hair out of her face as she turned to Gerick. "Sir, I have just gotten a report from the reconnaissance that they have found something interesting out in…" she turned and noticed the other figure, slowly dragging on the cigarette.

"You, why are you here!" she said, walking over to the startled stranger. She took the cigarette out of his mouth and crushed it beneath her heel. "You know it's illegal to smoke when you're underage, and it's terrible for your lungs! Honestly Siegfried, these are going to kill you!"

"You know I paid for those, and you shouldn't talk to a commanding officer like that." he looked down at her. "Besides, I thought you'd be happy to see me after six months."

"Aren't you supposed to be in Britain right now, helping out in the recovery of supplies over there?"

"No, we've taken care of that."

"If you'll excuse me, I have important information for Captain Gerick." she said, shoving him out of the way. She looked at Gerick "The scouting party we sent out hasn't returned yet. We suspect that they've been killed."

"Then let's go find them." Siegfried said, moving towards the door. "…Or whatever killed them. Come on Captain, let's go."

Gerick stood there for a second, and then moved to follow him. Ariana stood in the tent, looking at them walking out into the blowing snow, then followed them. Gerick was in the middle of gathering a few men to go search for them when Ariana came up to him.

"Do you really think it's wise to go search for whatever killed the scout party?" she said.

"No, but I think we'll be fine, as long as he came live up to his reputation." Gerick said, glancing at Siegfried, who was busy loading his guns. "How do you know him anyway?"

"We're childhood friends; we've known each other for years and joined the military after the bombing of England. We are both orphans." she said, looking at him.

"You stay back; we can't have the whole camp going to investigate this." Gerick said. He grabbed an AK-47 and joined the group that was going out for the reconnaissance team. Ariana watched them go, and then walked back into the camp.

The small group trudged through the blanket of snow, walking towards the last known location of the reconnaissance team. The blizzard had died down, so it was now much easier to go along. They walked through the snow covered pine, deep within the black forest. Siegfried walked behind with Gerick.

"So, captain, how is the mission going?" he said quietly. "Have we found the location of the ship?"

"No, we haven't. The enemy has placed snipers all along here, making it difficult to find it. We are both concentrating on trying to find the ship, while also attempting to delay the enemy."

"Sounds pretty tough, Captain." Siegfried said thoughtfully, glancing up at him. "I bet that the ship will be empty. It seems fitting that we're all fighting over some empty hull of some crashed ship."

"Yeah that's true." Gerick said, glancing at his younger companion. Gerick was a large, heavily built man who was a good fighter and loyal soldier. He had fought along many frontiers and seen many things. He was put in the head of this mission because he was capable and would get the job done. That they had sent in one of the five to take care of this showed that this mission was of greater importance than they had let on.

Siegfried stopped and woke Gerick from his brooding. They had found the reconnaissance team…what was left of them. Blood stained the snow all around, and the torn remains of the soldiers lay strewn about. They had been slaughtered. As the team searched around for any survivors, they were suddenly set upon by the waiting enemy troops, who fired from their concealed positions. They were completely surrounded, bullets whipping past them. A few men went down in the first few shots, blood gushing from their wounds.

Then Siegfried grabbed his handguns and became a whirlwind of destruction, shooting the guns with incredible speed and accuracy, his fire cutting into the concealed soldiers. Not one bullet found him; he seemed to be a blur, firing repeatedly in every direction. Then it was over. The bodies of the enemy lay around the clearing, bodies hanging from trees, and lying in bushes. Gerick was stunned; the battle had lasted no more than a few seconds. Siegfried reloaded his guns and turned to face Gerick, staring at him with those inhuman red eyes. "We should search the bodies; they might have something useful on them." Siegfried said calmly, walking towards the dead enemies.

Gerick ordered the men to search them and approached Siegfried, suddenly having a newfound respect for the fighting abilities of this young man. They hadn't sustained one casualty.

"Sir, we found a droid!" one of the soldiers said, waving for him to come over. As they he approached he saw the droid. It was covered in frost, seemingly deactivated. It was odd looking, being made out of many different parts. It had a rusted appearance, and seemed to have been in an explosion. It was covered in light armor, the servos and wires slightly exposed. The armor was scratched and dented, having seen some use. The limbs and body were different from one another, being from different droids. One was slightly larger and thickly built; the other more slender and dexterous. The head had no mouth, but a vocabulator. Its eyes were completely dark, one cracked. It hadn't been in the attack, and seemed to have been here awhile. Siegfried came up and looked at the droid. No one saw the look of surprise, and fear that crossed his face. He approached the droid with his gun pointed at it, and kicked the head. It's eyes lit up and glowed with a blue light, and it slowly rose to find a gun pointed at it's head. "Who are you, and which side are you on?" Gerick held the gun in front of the droid menacingly.

"I am Kerkes, and I am on side of The North Korean Army, master."

"You were hit by the explosion then, and that makes you an enemy." said Gerick "North Korea's army was defeated over a year ago, in a blast that took a whole part of the countryside with the fragments of the army."

"Defeated, really?" Kerkes said. The droid began to rise to his feet.

"Stay down; I'm not done asking questions." Said Gerick "So, what's your function anyway?"

"I was a cleaner of sorts, cleaning out the filth that festers around the battlefields, getting rid of pestering hostilities."

"You were a cleaner?" Gerick said, then began to laugh, the tension fading from his body. "I think we can find a place for you back at camp." When the droid had finally staggered to its feet, they finished their search and started on their way back, Siegfried stopped for a second, staring at the droid. His eyes narrowed. The droids hands were thick and strong, not suited for cleaning, but for crushing the life out of enemies. His body was scratched and had dents in it, from bullets. There were red patches on it, rust or blood? But the thing that bothered him most was its eyes, its cold artificial eyes that he'd seen somewhere before. He blinked away the memories and headed back to camp.

"Where did you find that droid, Kerkes" said Ariana, glancing at the droid. Siegfried and Ariana were standing outside the cook's tent. "He's a little weird, and doesn't really look like a cleaning droid. Gerick seems to like you more now, though you did just barge into his tent. You really need to stop doing that." she stared at Siegfried "Why did they send you here? They seem to be a little too worried over some crashed ship."

"The other generals are panicking, Ariana, they don't know what's in the thing. It could be some ultimate weapon that could mean the end for us. They wanted to send one of their own to put an end to this." Siegfried said "I volunteered."

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to see for myself what was in the ship." Siegfried said evasively.

"Didn't you want to see me too?" she said flatly.

"Well, uhhh…sure" He said.

"Right"

"So, what do you do around here?" he said, changing the subject.

"I am the doctor of the camp. I've had a lot of work to do lately. We lose more and more men every day and we still haven't gotten any reinforcements."

"What do you call me then?"

"You don't count. Sometimes I think they forgot about us up here, freezing in the snow, looking for a ship that probably isn't there. But in any case its good to have you around again, Siegfried, maybe we lighten up this place like we used to back at the academy." she smiled.

"Maybe" he smiled.

"Do you need any help, masters?" Kerkes said, having wandered over to them.

"No, go away!" Siegfried said.

"Well, I should get back to the hospital, we still have many guys that need treatment, see yaw!" Ariana walked away back to the medical tent.

"Did I do something wrong, master?" said Kerkes, walking over to him. Siegfried turned to look at him. They stared at each other. The droid tightened his fists. The droids eyes seemed to turn red as Siegfried reached for his gun.

"Hey Siegfried, come see this!" said Ariana as she yelled from the medical tent. Siegfried's eyes softened and he loosened the grip on the gun. As he walked away he didn't see the droids eyes following him, dark thoughts flashing through his brain.

Night fell over the camp. The tired soldiers went back to their tents while the night guards wearily out to their posts, expecting another cold night. As the lights of the camp faded, only one was out walking. He walked through the perimeter of the camp, unnoticed by any, and walked out into the woods. He continued to walk until he heard footfalls behind him and turned to look. Siegfried was standing there, his red eyes burning into him.

"Why are you out so late, droid?"

"I was just exploring the around master, searching for any hostilities that might have been left unattended to." Kerkes turned to face Siegfried, his eyes glowing red in the twilight. Two pairs of artificial eyes stared at each other. Neither made a move. "Why follow me, master?"

"I wanted to end this away from the camp, where there won't be any interruptions." His eyes narrowed.

"And where they will never find your body" Kerkes said darkly.

"If you intend to find the ship, you'll be out of luck. Nobody's found it yet."

"I believe you are incorrect, master."

"Then were? You know where it is?"

"I only say that it would be unfortunate for you continue on this conversation, master. Then I would be forced to silence such words."

He drew his knife and glared at the droid. "You're looking to take me on?" he said, tightening his grip on the knife.

"No master, I know of the considerable combat skill you possess, unlike a quivering boy I met some years ago, who could barely hold a gun straight. He unfortunately lost his eyes in a masterfully done technique. I'm surprised he survived." The droid took a step forward.

"She was able to help me…and I got a gift out of it, while you fell of a cliff as I recall, that terrible blast knocking you from the cliff. You even shielded me from it, I should thank you."

"Unfortunate for your platoon, who weren't so lucky…, and look at you now, a commander…you certainly have built a reputation for yourself. And you've even found yourself a little girlfriend. I wonder…"

"You touch her, and I'll break you!" Siegfried said darkly, the knife pointed threateningly at Kerkes.

"Really Siegfried, we shouldn' Kerkes shoved Siegfried back, the blade snaking out, blindingly fast, and was blocked by Siegfried's knife. Siegfried moved into the blow, his blade scraping against the sword, and slashed at Kerkes. Both combatants jumped back, facing each other. Kerkes examined the scratch mark on his chest from the knife.

"You truly are talented Siegfried, landing a blow on me. I wonder how it is you blocked my blow, since no human could have intercepted such a blow." Kerkes ran at Siegfried, stabbing at him, when Siegfried grabbed Kerkes's arm and twisted it. They both locked arms and twisted. Kerkes turned lightning fast and kicked Siegfried in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. Siegfried tumbled to the ground, and Kerkes ran away into the woods. As Siegfried clutched at his chest, he looked around, realizing Kerkes was gone.

He climbed painfully to his feet. The droid would not win this time! He scanned through the trees for him, his enhanced vision allowing him to see great distances, even in the dark. He'd never be able to find him! At least his ribs weren't broken from the kick, but it still hurt! He found his way back to camp and by then it the sun was starting to rise over the horizon. Gerick came out from his tent, but stopped dead when he saw Siegfried walking towards him. "What happened to you?"

"Kerkes is a traitor, he was from the beginning. I don't know what he plans to do with the ship, but I know it will be bad for all of us. He's working on his own, not with the Chinese, so we know they aren't going to help him."

"Where is he now?"

"He's heading for the crashed ship. I fought him, but I couldn't stop him from getting away. We have to move out now!"

"Of course, right away!" He didn't say it, but the fact that Siegfried couldn't stop Kerkes sent shivers down his spine. Whatever his motives, he was a dangerous opponent.

"What's going on?" Ariana, emerging from her tent, muttered.

"We're going to the crashed ship" Said Siegfried. "We'll need to break through the barricade the Chinese Military has put up around the suspected area where the ship is. Then we'll have to stop the droid."

Soon everybody was geared up and ready to go. The sun was just starting to rise when they set out, its pale white glow flowing across the landscape. They marched through the woods towards the area of the forest filled with enemy troops.

They ran into the territory rapidly, everyone on edge, looking around everywhere for the enemy. Then a man went down with a snipers bullet in his head, and everyone took cover. Siegfried got up and started to run out into the open, guns raised. Time slowed; the cries of alarm from the soldiers echoed in his ears. The whine as bullets hit the ground around him seemed ultra clear; he could see the snipers huddled under the snow or behind rocks. This was the epitome of what his artificial eyes could do. It was an advanced sight that allowed him to take in information so fast that it gave him ultra quick reflexes, allowing him to move and react with incredible speed. He twisted and rolled, the bullets ricocheting of rocks. He raised his gun and could see the alarm on his face when he pulled the trigger, and was already on to the next target before the bullet even hit him. In less than a few seconds he managed to hit 13 targets, without a scratch on him.

As he rose to see if everyone was alright, a sharp pain tore through his head, and his vision faded to black for a second. He staggered and fell to one knee. Ariana came running over, asking if he was okay. This was the cost of his abilities. Since his brain is organic, it cannot take the enormous strain of processing so much information so quickly for very long. Prolonged use could lead to an aneurism from the strain put on the brain.

He staggered to his feet, looking from face to face, seeing the same concern on every one. He turned to Ariana and said "I'm fine, I was just a little weak for a moment there."

"You shouldn't use that so long Siegfried, you'll kill yourself!"

"I'm fine. We have to go on and get to the ship.'

"Okay, everybody move out!" Gerick said. He stopped and faced Siegfried. "Be careful Siegfried. To see one of the five actually die on the battlefield, or show any sort of weakness, is devastating for the morale of the troops." He patted him on the back and they continued on.

They kept running until they ran straight into a legion of the  
Chinese troops. Everyone stopped for a second, in shock, and then the gunfight started. Ariana proved skilled with a gun, taking down her share of troops. Gerick literally ran into a guy, slamming him onto the ground before shooting him. Soon, with superior skills, they prevailed and moved on with only a few casualties. Soon they came upon an area that had been devastated by a large crash. They went farther and came upon the ship.

It was a large battleship, brought down not by heavy weapons, but something else. The sunlight shined of the armor of the behemoth. The ground was torn beneath it, dredged up along the sides. You could still smell the fuel that had leaked out, permeating the air. The group moved towards the ship, only to stop suddenly when an enormous blast went of near them throwing everyone into the air. Siegfried felt his ears pop, everything going silent, the screams muted.

He staggered to his feet and saw carnage. Blood and guts were strewn across the ground, ragged bodies of people he had seen only moments ago. The only thing he could think of was finding Ariana. He shouted as loud as he could. He searched through the bodies hoping to find her, than abruptly saw her. She lay sprawled out on the ground, next to Gerick, who had protected her from most of the blast with his body. His leg was twisted and blood was trickling from his ears. He ran next to them and felt their pulse…they were alive. Ariana's pulse was strong, Gerick's faint but still there.

"What a tragedy, looks like you found the land mines" Kerkes stepped out from behind the ship, a large machine gun in his hands. "I wouldn't worry if I was you master, you'll be joining them soon."

Siegfried slowly rose to his feet, blood trickling from his head. He drew his guns and pointed them at Kerkes. He stared silently at him, then said "It's a good thing they aren't here, Kerkes. They don't have to see what I'm going to do to you…"

"Really, then show me." Kerkes pulled the trigger, and the bullets from their guns collided in mid-air, and as they were falling they were already moving. Kerkes was firing a hail of bullets at Siegfried, but none touched him. He fired at Kerkes, who in turn dodged out of the way. Bullets flew past his head, and he fired at Kerkes, who leaped into the air. Siegfried looked up, into the sun to see his silhouette coming at him. He raised his guns and fired three shots of before leaping out of the way. He felt the ground shake as Kerkes landed, and leaped behind a broken piece of metal plating from the ship as a hail of bullets tore into it.

He sat behind a wall, quickly coming to the conclusion that he couldn't beat Kerkes with bullets unless he got in close. His weapons firepower was too high for him to take on with handguns. He rolled out of cover just as Kerkes landed right were he'd been. He turned the machine gun on Siegfried, pressing the trigger. Siegfried closed his eyes and concentrated. He opened them and Kerkes seemed to be pulling the trigger ridiculously slowly. He could have sworn he was moving in slow motion except that when he ran towards Kerkes, discarding his guns, it was like he was moving through water. The hail of bullets ripped past him, and he drew his knife and slashed Kerkes's gun with the blade, breaking the chain of bullets streaming under the gun, and brought the blade up to Kerkes's throat.

Then everything came back in a rush. Time speeded up again and he was on his knees in pain, his vision fading away. He felt a cold, iron fist close around his throat, intent on crushing the life out of him. Plunging the knife into his hand, he broke free of his grip and jumped back, his head swimming with pain and loss of oxygen. Kerkes stopped and looked at his broken gun and damaged hand. "You continue to amaze me, Siegfried, using your eyes in such a way. But it comes at a cost I see. Now I will rid this world of you" The blade extended from his hand and he launched himself at Siegfried, who barely managed to block the slash, which cut into his shoulder. He screamed in pain, staggering back. But Kerkes continued his assault, battering away at him, and blow after blow. Siegfried stumbled away, bleeding from multiple wounds. When Kerkes came at him again, he ducked and kicked Kerkes's legs out from under him, and then ran for the ship. Kerkes quickly got up and ran after him.

Siegfried entered the interior of the crashed ship and hid himself in the shadows. Kerkes cautiously entered walking towards the middle where a sliver of light permeated the absolute blackness. Even his night vision couldn't pierce it. Siegfried looked around from behind a pillar. He concentrated, thinking of a way to beat Kerkes. "Infrared, activated."

Siegfried moved farther back into the depths of the ship, than came to the realization that there was nothing in the ship. He had a moment to think on the irony before he saw Kerkes leap down at him from the ceiling. As he launched himself at Siegfried, Siegfried concentrated and then moved out of the way of the slashing blade as Kerkes landed. He turned in slow motion and barely blocked Siegfried's attack. Now Siegfried hammered at Kerkes's defenses, pushing him back. He slashed again and again at Kerkes but to no avail. He just wouldn't go down. He felt the effects beginning to wear of. As a lightning fast strike from Kerkes came straight at him, he turned into the blow, the sword scraping past his knife, and with all his strength punched Kerkes in the face. He staggered back, and turned to look at Siegfried. "How many fingers did you break, one or two master?"

Siegfried cradled his broken hand. He couldn't beat him. He felt no pain, no fatigue…it wasn't over! He would beat him. He snapped his fingers back into place and hammered into Kerkes with such force that they both tumbled to the ground. Siegfried hammered at Kerkes's face, but Kerkes grabbed Siegfried in an iron grip and hurled him away. He slammed into a wall, the wind knocked out of him. Kerkes ran at him, his blade whistling through the air. Siegfried spun and kicked a bar of twisted steel that seemed to be jutting from the ground. Then an enormous plate of armor held up by the bar fell down onto Kerkes. Siegfried then spun, slashing at one of Kerkes's legs, cutting the hydraulics. Kerkes staggered under the enormous weight, his hand digging into the metal.

Siegfried stood up, staring at Kerkes. He was effectively pinned under the weight, unable to move without being crushed. His servomotors whined with the effort of holding up the plate. "And so it ends, master." He said with some regret in his voice.

"Die now, Kerkes." He took out a handgun from his coat, and shot directly through Kerkes's head. His body crumbled under the weight and there was a deafening crash. Siegfried stood for a moment, staring at his crushed enemy then said "Got yaw."

He walked out of the ship and saw Ariana standing over Gerick's still form. He ran over to them and glanced at Ariana. She was crying, and glanced up in surprise. "You're alive!" She ran over to him and kissed him. They pulled apart, embarrassed.

"I should do that more often." Siegfried said, breaking the silence. Ariana glared at him, and then hugged him.

They heard a groan and looked down to see Gerick opening his eyes. He looked at them and said "Get a room!"

They helped him to his feet and surveyed the surroundings. They were all alone. There were no other survivors. They were all silent for a moment, and then Siegfried broke the silence by saying "Does anyone have a cell phone?"

Ariana presented one to Siegfried. He clicked a few buttons on the phone and handed it back to her. "What did you just do?"

"I put out a signal to the other generals to come pick us up."

"What are we going to do in the meantime?" Ariana said.

"Captain…" Siegfried said, turning to face him.

"Yes sir!"

He glanced at Ariana. "Leave!"

She glared at him and hit him. "Well we might as well get comfortable; we're going to be waiting for a while."

They all sat down on the snow covered ground, staring up at the pale white sun, which flickered with the passing of the transport…


End file.
